The present invention relates to apparatus for orienting and feeding studs or other elongated parts, hereinafter referred to as parts, to production and/or working machines, such as thread rollers, grinders, slotters, etc.
In some prior art methods and apparatus, the parts have been manually oriented and then placed directly into the working tools of the production machine. In other prior art methods and apparatus, the parts, after manual orientation, have been placed into a tube which longitudinally directs the flow of the parts into the production machine or working tools.
The prior art has also utilized somewhat more automatic methods, such as some sort of automatic feeding device which generates the movement of the parts and moves the parts longitudinally end-to-end randomly oriented into a tube-like device which is used to transport the parts from the feeding apparatus to the working tools. At the working tools, various mechanical methods have been employed to strip the parts from the tube and place them into the working tool. In such prior art automatic equipment, the speed at which the parts fall into position for stripping by the mechanical stripper is controlled by the force of gravity and hence the speed of operation is limited. A typical feed rate, for example, is 30 parts per minute.